by Jarrett Renshaw (Reuters) President Donald Trump is seriously considering abandoning efforts to remake the nation’s biofuel laws after wading deep into an issue that divides some of his core constituencies, according to three sources familiar with the administration’s thinking.

Advisers have urged Trump to instead let Congress tackle the biofuel reforms, but use the threat of administrative action to help rival lawmakers come together and solve the intractable issue.

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Trump’s efforts to reform the program have angered lawmakers and farmers from red states like Iowa and Nebraska and U.S. oil majors that do not mind if their competitors struggle, leaving the president little safe political ground to maneuver.

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Changes considered included potentially capping the price of blending credits that refiners must acquire to show compliance with the law. But the effort exposed gaping divisions between the corn and oil lobbies, along with disagreements between integrated refiners like BP Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp and merchant refiners like PBF Energy Inc, over solutions.

But any action by the White House would upset at least one faction of Trump’s base, according to the sources, who asked not to be named as they were discussing a confidential matter.

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EPA head Scott Pruitt and Agricultural Secretary Sonny Perdue have been compiling a list of executive and administrative-level options for Trump to consider to tweak the RFS, the sources said. The list would likely include caps on compliance credits and lifting summertime restrictions on the use of higher-ethanol blends of gasoline.

Two sources said the White House would likely make an announcement on its plans in the next two weeks.

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Shifting the issue to lawmakers would put the spotlight on U.S. Senator John Cornyn, the Texas Republican who has been leading legislative efforts to reform the RFS. READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico’s Morning Energy: Plans for a public event with Pruitt at the White House to announce changes to the air quality standards program today (April 6, 2018) have apparently been shelved, but Trump still intends to sign an executive order on the subject, The Washington Post reports. Pruitt had said earlier this week that an announcement on the new policy was in the works, but EPA did not respond to ME’s questions Thursday night. READ MORE

Excerpt from Washington Post: In a sign of Pruitt’s split-screen existence, according to administration officials briefed on the matter, Trump on Friday plans to sign the directive expediting air- quality permits. Yet the White House canceled an announcement event where the two were to appear together. READ MORE